AVIS DE DROIT PROTECTION DES SIGNES NATIONAUX

2. Législation applicable
a) Droit international
ETATS-UNIS
The United States is a signatory to the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of
Prisoners of War (Adopted on 12 August 1949 by the Diplomatic Conference for the
Establishment of International Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War, held in
Geneva from 21 April to 12 August, 1949).
The United States is a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial
Property, as revised at Stockholm on July 14, 1967, the members of which constitute a Union
for the protection of industrial property.
Under Article 6ter of the Paris Convention, the contracting countries have agreed to refuse or
to invalidate the registration, and to prohibit the unauthorized use, as trademarks or as
elements of trademarks, of armorial bearings, flags, and other State emblems of the member
countries, official signs and hallmarks indicating control and warranty adopted by member
countries, and any imitation from a heraldic point of view. The provision applies equally to
armorial bearings, flags, other emblems, abbreviations and names of international intergovernmental
organizations of which one or more countries of the Union are members, except
for those that are already the subject of international agreements in force, intended to ensure
their protection (e.g., "Red Cross" and emblems protected by the Geneva Convention of
August 12, 1949). 317
The United State became a member of the WTO on January 1, 1995 and, as such, is a
signatory of TRIPPS.
The Trademark Law Treaty Implementation Act (Pub. L. 105-330), adopted in 1998,
implements the provisions of the WIPO Trademark Law Treaty that require the
simplification and harmonization of requirements for acquiring and maintaining a trademark
registration in member countries.
The Madrid Protocol became effective in the United States on November 2, 2003. As of that
date, U.S. trademark owners are able to submit an international application to the United
States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) to forward to the International Bureau (“IB”)
in Geneva, Switzerland.
The U.S. Trademark Act has been amended by federal legislation to add provisions for
implementing the Madrid Protocol in the United States. This amending legislation is called
the Madrid Protocol Implementation Act (MPIA). The USPTO has also added new rules to
the Trademark Rules of Practice for documents relating to the Madrid Protocol. The MPIA
and the new rules are posted on the USPTO website at: www.uspto.gov.
317 Trademark Manual of Examination Procedures (TMEP) - 4th Edition (“TMEP”) §1205.02 available
at: http://tess2.uspto.gov/tmdb/tmep/1200.htm#_T120303b.
204